Band of Horses - The Funeral

What this video is

Released in May 2006 as the lead single from Band of Horses' debut album 'Everything All the Time' (Sub Pop/Fat Possum), 'The Funeral' arrived at a pivotal moment in indie rock's commercial and critical ascent. The song — and its video — exemplify a mid-2000s aesthetic of earned emotional authenticity: unadorned, lo-fi, and rooted in blue-collar American grief. The video's Chicago setting, bar-culture staging, and…

Why it matters

A defining artifact of the mid-2000s Sub Pop indie rock canon, 'The Funeral' represents the convergence of shoegaze-influenced guitar texture, alt-country melodic sensibility, and post-grunge emotional directness. Its music video operationalizes these qualities visually — sparse, grief-saturated,…

The director

Matt Lenski is an American director of music videos, television commercials, and films, based in New York City. He studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and Cornell University's Department of Theatre, Film & Dance. He rose to Senior Creative…